


Violin Neck

by SpaceValentine (Alynox)



Category: OMORI (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Basil Character Study, Basil POV, Character Study, Disassociation, Gen, General warnings involved with Omori, Major Character Injury, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Spoilers, Trauma, its The Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 21:15:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29195934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alynox/pseuds/SpaceValentine
Summary: Sunny was always so quiet. Basil never needed him to speak to understand what he wanted to say. Now, yelling at an unresponsive body, Basil can't seem to figure out who he is.
Relationships: Basil & Sunny (OMORI)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 100





	Violin Neck

Sunny was quiet. Everyone knew this. He didn’t speak much and preferred to be an observer in conversation. When he spoke, his voice was soft and never as loud as Mari’s own soft but self-assured voice, Hero’s bashful but deep one, or Kel and Aubrey’s argumentative yelling. Yet, anyone close could tell how Sunny felt. Sunny didn’t need to tell you he was afraid, or happy, or sad. His eyes told everything.

Basil always watched out for Sunny. Even if Basil wasn’t as brazen or confident as the rest of them, Basil protected Sunny. Sunny was the youngest of the group, and Basil liked to take care of things. He was a nurturer at heart and liked to make sure Sunny was okay. That Sunny was safe.

So, Sunny didn’t have to speak for Basil to understand him.

So why was he yelling? His eyes had dulled since he saw a broken corpse at the foot of the stairs. His eyes said nothing but he had yelled and begged for a response. The usual attentive listener shouting with no one to listen. Basil was frozen, staring at the stranger yelling with nothing in his eyes. Then, he was murmuring words, lifting and dragging an empty body across rough wood and up the stairs. Basil watched, his heart beating out of his chest at the puppet-like scene.

Sunny was the baby of the group, unable to hurt anyone. He needed to be protected. So how could it possibly have been Sunny who pushed her? With the sounds of scraping and mumbling in a repetitive beat in the back of Basil’s head, Basil watched Something behind Sunny. Something had pushed her. Something was hurting Sunny, making him yell and his eyes uncommunicative. So Basil followed Something who followed Sunny who pulled and whispered with all of his strength. Who laid her to rest on her bed and sat next to limp inky strands. Who muttered nonsense and stared into nothing.

Basil needed to protect Sunny. Who had done nothing wrong. Who couldn’t do anything wrong. Basil needed to protect Sunny from people demanding answers for a crime Sunny didn’t commit. Because he couldn’t have. Because that thing behind Sunny would force him to be the bad guy to everyone who wouldn’t understand. They wouldn’t see Something behind him, wouldn’t get that it couldn’t possibly have been Sunny who had yelled and pushed and broke.

Basil approached the unresponsive boy, and told him,”No one has to know.”

Sunny’s eyes widened and he went quiet, and Basil kept speaking,”Only we know how she died. Follow my lead, and nothing bad will happen. This is the only way. We just have to pretend. Everything will be okay.”

Sunny is no longer speaking and muttering, and Basil feels hope in his chest. His eyes are still unfocused, still unresponsive, but Basil knows that it is Something’s influence. Basil goes to gather the materials and tells Sunny to bring her downstairs.

He gets the rope and the toy box, as Sunny shuffles downstairs, clinging to a still chest.  
“It’s okay, Sunny. I’ll protect you.” Basil whispers encouragingly to Sunny, opening the backyard door, “Just keep walking.”

Sunny follows Basil to the tree with the well-placed branches and Basil begins to tie a noose. He’s always been as much of a perfectionist as her and Basil took so well to her flower crown lessons. The motions are familiar even if the pattern is different. It’s like she was tying it herself to hang around her own neck, his hands drawing the same motions she had demonstrated to him. He makes sure it’s as perfect as she would’ve wanted, and absently notices his hands shaking.

Basil notices Sunny staring at the leaves, not recognizing anything around him and Basil yearns to pry Something away from him, to help Sunny see again and Basil knows Sunny will not see correctly until Something is gone and until then Basil has to take care of him. Has to protect him from its actions and absolve Sunny of any blame.

Basil has to do this right. He ties the rope around the branch and it sways in the wind as he lets go. It doesn’t have any weight holding it down yet. He grabs the body of pale skin and ink hair and even with the added weight, the rope and pale skin continues to sway in the wind. He sets the toy chest next to her feet, a fake step stool for her demise. 

Basil gently pushes Sunny towards the house, and Sunny’s feet take one step after the other but his eyes do not track them. Once inside, he cannot help but to grab Sunny’s hand, to ground him and keep his eyes focused. Sunny jerks away, cringing from physical contact after pushing warmth away and pulling cold close. Basil holds on tighter, refusing to let Sunny leave him escape into the Something at his back. He pulls Sunny back, and Sunny’s eyes meet his. There are flashes of something in his eyes, and Basil feels relief. He feels like it’s going to be fine because Sunny is here and okay. Sunny’s eyes track paths down his face, and Basil notices for the first time that he is crying.

He doesn’t wipe the tears, exhaustion beginning to settle in his bones as everything begins to come to a close. Sunny’s eyes flicker as if he is waking up and Basil looks away to let him process. He turns his gaze outside to the swaying leaves and swaying…

Mari. Basil feels a bit of belated surprise to see her swinging in the winds from a rope. His eyes are wide as he takes in the sight of Mari dangling in the wind. Even though it was his own design, it still comes as a shock to see her unresponsive with a rope cradling her neck. He never considered it was Mari. He wonders if she’d be proud of him protecting Sunny like she had always encouraged before.

Basil absently notices Sunny following his gaze and leaning against him as he saw the same sight. Or was it really? Did Sunny also see the way the branches seemed to grow out of her body? How her lifeless body seemed to be judging him? No, Sunny couldn’t possibly see the same thing. Mari would never blame Sunny, she loved him so dearly. But Basil… Basil could feel the way his stomach ate at him from inside from her judgement. How could she not blame the hands that crafted her noose?

Basil shivered as he could’ve sworn the branches were inside the house, how the floor seemed to be covered in ink. The same ink that had been spilled across the floor before.

Basil saw Sunny’s eyes water and his mouth close and couldn’t help but feel something in him lighten. Everything would be okay as long as Sunny and him stuck together.

Basil pulled on his hand, drawing his attention.

“Don’t worry.” Basil smiled at Sunny,”Everything is going to be okay.”

Sunny cried harder as Basil smiled,”No matter what happens.”

“Promise me that we’ll always be there for each other.”

“Promise me…”

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this post on Tumblr https://ryujistupidhorse.tumblr.com/post/642175378151047168/bro-basil-is-so-unwell-im-as-much-for-happy
> 
> Basil is often depicted as soft and sweet and I wanted to explore the darker part. This is a character study. It was originally going to be exploring Basil's thoughts post-game, but I wanted to set up his thought process during the accident. It ended up growing longer and I felt it'd be too much to add the second part. If people art interested I might write it. 
> 
> It's 4am and I'm very sleepy and literally wrote this in an hour so I'm sorry if it sucks I just had to write my ideas down and knew I'd never get around to posting if I let it sit. (If any parts of incomprehensible because of this- sorry.
> 
> Oh also I've never posted a single thing to ao3 before so please let me know if there are additional tags or something I need to add.


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